This network connects the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the nucleus accumbens and is responsible for the hit of pleasure you feel when eating something delicious, receiving good news, or critically consuming alcohol or other addictive substances
If youre a clinician considering microdosing: Be explicit: We dont know exactly how or why this might work at this dose Consider it especially for: Normal-weight patients with metabolic dysfunction Patients who cant tolerate higher doses Conditions with strong mechanistic rationale (PCOS, autoimmune disease, addiction) Monitor objectively: weight and body composition, waist circumference, labs, symptom scores, not just subjective reports Track patients who dont lose weight but report benefits - these are your most interesting cases Document everything, contribute to registries If youre a patient considering microdosing: Understand that benefits without weight loss are reported but not proven Know that you might be benefiting from small amounts of visceral fat loss that dont show on your scale Be skeptical of your own subjective improvement (placebo is real) Know that all medications come with possible side effects Work with a clinician who will help you figure out if its actually working If youre a researcher: Please study the minimal effective dose Use imaging to measure visceral fat, not just scale weight Design studies in normal-weight metabolically unhealthy individuals Compare weight-matched groups to isolate non-weight-loss effects My opinion
Currently, more than 400,000 Australians are paying as much as $5,000 a year for Ozempic-like GLP-1 medications
Clears all inflammatory problems due to skin reactions
Once you reach a stable maintenance dose, absorption patterns typically stabilize, though ongoing discussion with your prescriber remains important
Whole brain approaches, like EPSI [49] or GluCEST [141], improve coverage to over 2/3s of the brain
